Trailer Blues

Ahh- the joys of home, err, trailer ownership. We had a landing leg jack break this morning (March 25) which rendered our trailer unlivable. Without a landing leg we can’t unhook our trailer from our truck. This leaves us with (a) no truck to use, but more importantly, (b) we are unable to set the trailer down (i.e. land it) and put the slides out (which gives us access to the beds).

OK, it is still early in the day – surely someone can fit us in to get it fixed. Oh shoot! (read: &%@@##$). Today is Good Friday. I must admit PANIC seeped into my happy world when I realized this – long weekend – everything closed until Monday. Double shoot! We’re supposed to be heading towards the Grand Canyon tomorrow. Triple shoot! Then we found out that in the U.S.A. Good Friday is not a holiday and that all the RV repair shops are open (and in Phoenix, Arizona – there are a lot). Hooray!

“OK, we’re going to be OK.” I said to myself. After the eighth call with a Service Manager telling us they were booked solid and couldn’t fit us in for at least 2 weeks. The “oh shoots!” weren’t quite strong enough by this point. I tried the “but we live in the trailer” and the “we have two small children & are very far away from home”. And still the only answer I could get was “Sorry, wish we could help”.

All it takes is one – the 9th call landed us at Beaudry RV that asked me “We’ve had a cancellation - how soon can you be here?” Didn’t need to tell us twice – I had the kids putting there shoes on before I’d even hung up the phone - we were at the shop within the hour.

It’s great the way everyone pulls together in a crisis. Toria was hungry and was saying that she wanted toast for breakfast but I was on the phone trying to find a repair shop. I couldn’t help her and Todd was outside seeing if there was anything he could do to jury-rig the jacks. Tomas who has never made toast a day in his life took it upon himself to get the bread from the cupboard, put it in the toaster and put butter on it (that part was a little gross - fortunately, Toria likes to lick raw butter – but that is a story for another day).

At Beaudry RV– we were there for 4 hours – not a peep, a whine, nothing but smiles and laughs from both Tomas or Toria. I am so proud of them. They watched TV, coloured, read books, and practiced using a water cooler (which ranks just below Disney World on the kiddo-fun meter).

In other news, we’ve had a great stay in Arizona. We’ve gone for amazing hikes amongst the tall burly Saguaro cacti, squirmed in our truck as a rattlesnake slithered across the road in front of us, stared in awe as the bald eagles soar over our trailer, and been swimming. My, how we have been swimming! We’ve had great pools at the RV parks in Arizona and both Tomas and Toria have improved so much in the past 2 weeks.

Tomorrow we are off to Sedona, Arizona for a few days before continuing our northward direction towards the Grand Canyon. Hope to add some pictures then.
Ciao. Carmen.